DennisG

Good job freeman. my question is that in the video he is using iron, the links you made are also iron or mild steel?

hmmmm....a 17 yr old comment that is hip....... Blacksmithing will be your crack. Is that cool and hip? LOL Welcome to IFI and Blacksmithing.

gotta ask..... What is a socket slick?

NOOOOOO!!!!!!! RUN AWAY FAST!!!!!!!! Once bitten it will slowly fester and grow inside and before you know it any piece of metal will become a "I could make a......" Of course if there is no dissuading you welcome to the craft. Let us know where you hail from and maybe some locals can hook you up ( sound hip? ). Have fun and share often.

I know it is a month later but try HERE. The calculator is fantastic. Takes into account the orifice size, bottle size, psi and gives you all your info.

Hello Bob all the way from Alberta. I have the same problem you do, that was until a friend and fellow Blacksmith found a supplier in Calgary. If I remember right it is 50$ for a gal plus shipping. He is gonna pint it out to people, and since you mix a pint to get 1 1/2 pints, that should be all you need for a reg size forge. Of course I could be wrong. If you like I can ask my friend the name of the place. Good luck.

OK, I am not sure about the other "older" IFI members but I got tired watching Alec swing that 12lber. The vids, pictures and all amaze me. Great work Alec!

Alec is a lucky guy to have his mom arrange 2 weeks learning from Brian. At such an age to be focused on an art/trade is rare. I think this is a good example for other younger people who use the phrase "I can't do it I'm too young (or weak)" that they can do it. Have fun Alec, you lucky guy. I look forward to seeing more pictures.

Wow, if those are what you call a "crummy anvil and rivet forge", I can't imagine what my home made anvil and forge would be called. They look real good to me thats for sure. You did some nice first work. Took me a long time to learn to make a leaf let alone the hanger, which I like the design of. Keep up the good work.

Hello Braslilkilt, I was kinda in the same boat as yourself, saw them, heard talk, ect. . I took the plung last fall and made my gasser, here is the LINK to it. I hope it helps you out. As to not being a welder, maybe you have other local Blacksmiths who can help you out with that. Good luck and have fun.

Hello Boys and Girls! This past weekend I was out with my father and my daughter Andie ( I have mentioned her before and she is an IFI member) and we stopped into a local flea market. I go to this one often as there is a tool guy there who has from time to time hammers and the such that I like. When I walk around I am more often then not looking at the floor under the table or in the hidden areas, people don't like to life heavy objects onto tables, and what I look for is heavy. Well today my eyes caught what looked like a drill press under a table of various antique items. Darn if it wasn't. Under an electric motor was a rusty single stage drill press. I bent down looking at it, Andie joined me to look it over, I told her not to act interested. The crank worked, everything spun with a very slight bit of resistance. It was missing the slide pipe, bracket, and table. If you look at the pics you will see everything is there and not broken or damaged. My shop one had the feed control arm repaired in it's life. OK, at a flea market, on the floor, under a table with lots of other antiques, what will this guy be wanting? When I bought mine I was given a great deal, $80. So I asked the man what he wanted for the weird hand crank drill. $20. Twenty bucks? Yeppers. Andie and I went in halvers. Made sure the deal was done fast and got it in the trunk ASAP. He did not know what he really had there. So now Andie and I have a Forge & Blower Co of Kitchener 612 Post Drill Press. Andie went back to the same flea market sunday. Did she something I missed?

What? That's a nail making hammer.

maybe bring some "local" homemade items to give out or trade on your travels and meetings.

I work in the steel fab industry up here in Canada. Steel over the last while has been rising in cost. Increases to pull the materials, raw, from the ground, the rising electricity bills for melting and processing. It all adds up. It is cheaper to buy "used" metal from scrappers. I was watching a recycle show and they scrap their metal in England, 10 tons was worth $4K to them. Up here we have a few places that won't let you into the yard, a couple have a select spot for you to look thru. Going to a you pull-it is not worth it much, a coil spring from an unknown car, 40$, not happening, again. I have started to visit my garage for their scrap steel. They have to unlock it for me and for a few min. I get to pull a few pieces. This is good for tool steel, but when I need reg. steel I have to scrounge at work, or buy new. I guess the day is here when recycling is the thing to do AND it pays, for the junkyard anyway.

I love that idea. Brian and Karen Brazeal did something similar, only theirs was a working visiting stops. I hope you get to stop alot along the way. With the folks here in IFI you may even get a chance to swing by other members home shops or even guild meets. That's a vacation I could seriously take. Travel around, visit shops and guild meets and get to meet others from IFI and in the Blacksmiths world. I would plan my whole time to coincide with meetings, of course I'd have to make sure they also matched with the Mrs being able to look at historical sites and the such. Good luck on the trip, if you do get something set out, make sure to post along the way of who you met and where ect. I have to ask though, will you be bringing a set of your own tools "Just in case"? Dennis

Why not have a look thru some BS books you have on the history. See what BS made for the every day household, then go from there. One idea I will give is a spike candle holder. Have you also thought about doing commissioned work should it come your way from this venture? Good luck.

Ted T, if you have had hundreds of students and never noticed any head bobbing, then my guess is it was always you in the class doing it. LOL J/K Dennis

Posted on You tube. Re posted on Facebook by Catlin Morris. Re re posted by me.